UNC football to play Cal, instead of Ohio State, in 2017, 2018

The Tar Heels will host Cal at Kenan Stadium in 2017, and will travel to Berkeley, California, the following year. The two-year series with Cal replaces UNC's previously scheduled series against Ohio State, which canceled its games against the Tar Heels after the Big Ten agreed to play a nine-game conference schedule.

North Carolina will play at home against Cal in 2017 and will travel to Berkeley, Calif., for a game against the Bears in 2018, UNC announced Wednesday.

The two-year series with Cal replaces UNC’s previously scheduled series against Ohio State, which canceled its games against the Tar Heels after the Big Ten agreed to play a nine-game conference schedule. The games against Ohio State were scheduled for 2017 and ’18.

UNC and Cal have never faced each other in football. The last time the Tar Heels played a home-and-home against a West Coast school was when it played Stanford in 1997 (in Chapel Hill) and 1998 (in Palo Alto, Calif.).